Tag Archives: Colorado River

With another deadline missed Monday, the head of the Bureau of Reclamation is now looking for the governors in the states in the Colorado River basin to tell her what they think she should do to keep water levels from dropping even lower.

The Imperial Irrigation District wants $200 million for the Salton Sea, a massive, briny lake in the desert southeast of Los Angeles created when the Colorado River breached a dike in 1905 and flooded a dry lake bed.

After House Speaker Rusty Bowers created a kerfuffle by pushing a bill that threatened to tank Arizona’s efforts to sign onto a multi-state drought plan and craft a similar intrastate plan, he asked at the last minute for the contentious proposal to be held.

I recommend that the Water Augmentation Council comprise a broad and diverse representation of all stakeholders, including agricultural and climate scientists, public health professionals, and concerned citizens representing our state’s mainstream population, including parents, teachers, community leaders and – yes – our children.

The Colorado River is entrusted to us and is a vital source of water, life, and economic prosperity, but we must take care of it in return. Protecting the river and the water it provides will require us to develop resilient solutions that reduce water consumption and efficiently share the river’s waters.

The governor and lawmakers celebrated passage of the Drought Contingency Plan bills as a “historic” moment that showed the state could work together to head off drastic water shortfalls on the Colorado River.